Dracula Untold Blu-ray ReviewToday, 01:15 AMDracula Untold games its thrones on Blu-ray with an edition that presents this leaden reboot of the Dracula franchise in solid high definition, with an army... Read More

Burbank, Calif., May 10, 2010 – A wave of six science fiction action favorites are blasting onto Blu-ray Disc for the first time on September 7, 2010. Presented by Warner Home Video, each film has been selected to showcase the stunning technical brilliance of Blu-ray™. With its crisp sound and spectacularly vibrant colors, there is simply no better way to watch movies at home. Each title is individually priced at $24.98 SRP. Orders are due August, 3, 2010.

The upcoming wave of sci-fi titles includes the much anticipated release of Forbidden Planet on Blu-ray, one of the most influential science fiction films in cinematic history. The grandfather of sci-fi movies, Forbidden Planet features a number of Oscar®-nominated special effects, groundbreaking use of an all-electronic music score and the first screen appearance of both Robby the Robot and the C-57D flying saucer starship (this was the first film in which humans are depicted traveling in flying saucers of their own construction). A 50th anniversary version of the film was restored by the Warner Bros.-MGM reconstruction crew before its HD DVD release in 2006, and since then there has been an enormous consumer demand for its Blu-ray debut.

With their mind boggling special effects and futuristic themes, sci-fi movies are some of the most sought after Blu-ray titles in the marketplace. Other titles being released on Blu-ray as part of Warner Home Video’s science fiction action promotion include THX 1138Director’s Cut, Lost in Space, A Scanner Darkly and Matrix Reloaded *.

According to DEG: The Digital Entertainment Group, with input from all major motion picture studios, Blu-ray software continued to see significant growth in the first quarter of 2010, with sell-through up 61 percent and rental up 36 percent, compared to the same period last year. The DEG also announced that Blu-ray hardware sales experienced remarkable growth, with set-tops up an astounding 125 percent versus first quarter 2009, indicating a strong consumer demand for Blu-ray.

Mars Attacks!

Awake, Earthlings! It’s later than you think. Don’t miss this hilarious frenzy as Tim Burton (Alice in Wonderland) directs – and Mars Attacks!

Did the DVD have any special features? If not I really don't see them bothering to make any new ones.

"And now the reprimand, from an American critic. He reproaches me for using film as a sacred & lasting medium, like a painting or a book. He does not believe that filmmaking is an inferior art, but he believes, and quite rightly, that a reel goes quickly, that the public are looking above all for relaxation, that film is fragile and that it is pretentious to express the power of one's soul by such ephemeral and delicate means, that Charlie Chaplin's or Buster Keaton's first films can only be seen on very rare and badly spoiled prints. I add that the cinema is making daily progress and that eventually films that we consider marvelous today will soon be forgotten because of new dimensions & colour. This is true. But for 4 weeks this film [The Blood of a Poet] has been shown to audiences that have been so attentive, so eager & so warm, that I wonder after all there is not an anonymous public who are looking for more than relaxation in the cinema." - Jean Cocteau, 1932

The dvd only had a trailer and some production note text screens. There must be an HBO special or something they can bung on the disc to help round it out it a bit. I'd love to see a cast commentary but that's never going to happen.

Did any of the abandoned stop motion animation actually get shot before they went CGI? I've seen a photo of a Martian puppet somewhere.

At the Tim Burton exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, there was a monitor set up that was playing a brief (30 seconds or so) stop-motion test, but if I remember my Cinefex article correctly, I don't think they ever proceeded with their work.